Gimmicks
Gimmicks are environmental effects that appear in both normal and event quests. Most gimmicks are detrimental in some form, though not all deal damage directly. New gimmicks are constantly added as the game updates. Gimmick List Damage Walls Some enemies can temporarily convert one or more of the area's walls into "Damage Walls". These walls will hurt monsters upon contact, unless the monster has the ability "Null Damage Wall" Note:Very rarely, some enemies in select stages will create a wall with rainbow sparkles. These "damage walls" actually heal whatever monster hits them, and is not blocked by Null Damage Wall Drones These static emplacements come in all shapes and sizes. Counter these with Drone Buster units or Strike Shots Attack-These Drones accompany bosses, firing lasers and creating Damage Walls Turbine-Fan-shaped Drones that push or pull your monsters. Loved by moving bosses. Armor-A Drone that pretty much acts like a more durable Shield. May create Damage Walls. Gravity Barriers Gravity Barriers (a blue crackling shield around a monster) slow down any monster that flies through them, which is bad because reduced speed=less flight time=less chances to damage opponents. Monsters with the skill Null Gravity Barrier can pass through with impunity, and some Strike Shots can temporarily erase Gravity Barriers. Homing Absorption These gimmicks only work if you have a monster capable of launching homing projectiles. These monsters draw homing projectiles to themselves and take minimal damage. Laser Barrier These barriers, denoted by a red sphere around the monster, are designed to negate Laser attacks spawned by Bump Combos and Strike Shots. While they stop lasers cold, anything between the barrier and the laser still takes damage Mines Basic trap. Monsters that touch them get hurt. Don't touch them. After a number of turns, they explode. Units with Flight can pass over them, and units with Minesweeper get an attack boost for "eating" Mines. Blocks Stone blocks that sit on the field and act as walls. They are indestructible and can't be bypassed by Pierce monsters. Shields Shields protect parts of bosses from damage, generally where their weak points spawn. They can be broken with enough hits, but this process can be accelerated using Pierce monsters or the Shield Break ability Pierce Obstructers These monsters generate an blue hexagonal barrier when hit, stopping Pierce monsters and Pierce-type Strike Shots. While Pierce monsters screech to a halt, Bounce monsters will smash them. Bounce Obstructors These monsters generate an orange blob barrier when hit, stopping Bounce monsters in their tracks. Cut through them with Pierce-types. Warp Monsters will sometimes spawn Warps in an area. A monster that flies into one of these will randomly pop out of a different Warp on the field. As there is no distinct pattern of warping, they can easily throw off what could have been a good combo. Negate with the Null Warp ability Scorpions The name describes it all. Poisonous nuisances. What the name doesn't tell you is that these monsters are also extremely durable, taking only one damage from all sources. The best way to take these out is using Bump Combos with a high hit quantity such as homing shots or slashes. Moving Some bosses and enemies have a "lovely" habit of moving around the battlefield. They also love creating explosions while they do so. Reinforcements Certain monsters within stages have the ability to call in reinforcements as an attack. It can only be stopped by defeating the monster, but can be delayed if the monster is stunned. Revivers Some monsters have the ability to revive defeated monsters. This can get very annoying when more than one reviver is on the field. Can be stopped by defeating the monster. Related Slayer Slayer is an ability utilized by various monsters. It means that they deal more damage when hitting an enemy of that particular type. Dark Slayer will hurt Dark enemies more, Dragon Slayer destroys Dragons, etc. Be warned, some enemies can also display this trait Poison Some monsters, enemy or ally, can use poison attacks. Monsters hit by these get poisoned, and take damage over time until it dissipates. You can purge poison from your monsters using a Status Recovery Gauge Shot or Strike Shot. Health Fruits will purge poison from the monster that picks it up, while Golden Fruits fully heal the status of all monsters. Enemy monsters that use poison will be distinctive, generally being depicted as a poisonous animal in real life (scorpions and cobras) or be related to death (certain Dark enemies). Some bosses use poison just because.